Life support
by MissJimmyChoo
Summary: "If you carry on holding onto a sinking boat, you'll end up sinking with it."


**Sorry if it's bad, I did it quickly and I'll edit it later. Promise. **

**I don't own glee**

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><p>She was looking at Finn and he was watching her look at Finn. This is always how it worked. Finn would sit there oblivious to the petite girl's looks as she looked longingly at the golden boy and he'd watch her. Her eyes were always so hopeful, so wishful. She'd never look at him like that. Yeah, she didn't give him the pitying 'he'll never leave Lima, will he?' or the disapproving 'it's his own fault' look, but she'd never look at him like she loved him. A girl destined for Broadway would never love a Lima loser. Definitely not when she could have perfect Finn. Every girl wanted Finn, why wouldn't she. He didn't expect her to look at him like she looked at Finn but her just wanted her to maybe glance at him once in awhile and think 'maybe if I can't have Finn I could have Puck as an alternative.' But she never did.<p>

It was the same as always. Finn was turning round in his seat to talk to Mike who was behind him, an arm flung around the back of Quinn's chair casually, his face showing how unaware he was of Rachel looking at him from the opposite side of the choir room, completely set apart from the whole club. And there was Puck, right in the middle of it so he could witness the looks from Rachel's side. Front row seat to Rachel's glances. It was always the same, it always would be until she fucked off to New York and he joined a football team somewhere while he was left in Lima. Everyone would leave and he'd stay here. While Rachel's fate that she'd end up on the stage it was Puck's fate that he die in the small town. Why would someone as worthless as him ever get anywhere?

After Finn had broken up with her Rachel had changed a lot. She never asked for any solos, actually she barely even raised her hand in class. While before she'd often hang around after glee to practice, now she was the first one out of the room. Everyone else had barely even started to get out of their seats and she'd already disappeared, the door swinging behind her. She'd walk with her head down while before her chin was always firmly up. Her back was always straight, but now she walked hunched over. She didn't talk much anymore. She'd become a shadow of her old self.

Like always, Rachel was the first out of the room. Unlike usual Mercedes was only a few seconds after her. Normally she'd hang around talking to Santana or someone but now it was obvious she wanted to catch up to Rachel. But this isn't that weird, she could be asking about Kurt who they were both now friends with although they weren't that close themselves. So the rest of glee club didn't think much of it.

Nobody seemed to notice the looks that Rachel gave Finn, or Puck gave Rachel. That is, except Mercedes. The diva rarely missed anything. She liked to be the first to know. Her and Santana seemed to compete to be the first to find out the latest gossip. Santana was too busy thinking about Brittany and gazing at her every once in awhile to notice the new piece of information, though. Mercedes had won the lates battle for new gossip. Now Mercedes liked to know everything about everyone but she also cared about the wellbeing of others, even if the 'others' consisted of Rachel Berry.

"Rachel," Mercedes yelled after the brunette who was hurrying down the halls making her way towards the doors to the car park. The girl stopped but didn't turn around. Mercedes caught up with her.

Rachel turned to the other girl, placing a hand on her hip. "How may I help you, Mercedes?"

"Okay I'm not gonna shoot around the bush. I'll get straight to the point..." She stopped for a second and crossed her arms as Rachel frowned at her curiously. "Just let go, alright? He's not gonna love you like he loves her. Why would anyone love someone like us when they could have someone like her? They're made to be together, they always have."

"I'm sorry, Mercedes, but I don't think I understand," Rachel looked at the girl with her eyebrows knitted together.

"Finn and Quinn, everyone knows that whatever happens he'll always end up with her. No one could stop them from getting together, not even you. We're still at the bottom of this 'high school popularity pyramid'. We may have a couple of cheerleaders and footballers in the club but we're still at the bottom. We're never going to be popular. Quinn and Finn are at the top, people at the top will always end up with someone at the top. They'll always be together. You were a distraction for Finn, to get his mind off of the baby thing. But now that's blown over he's forgotten about you," Mercedes breathed in deeply and looked down into the girl's eyes.

"If you believe enough, if you try hard enough, you can get whatever you want," Typical Rachel, always hoping even when it was useless.

"Just stop trying. Let go," Mercedes gripped the girl by the shoulders and shook her lightly, "If you carry on holding onto a sinking boat, you'll end up sinking with it. Once you're under the water it's hard to come back up. Don't you understand? You're going to drown. If you keep on holding on, Rachel, you're going to drown. You need to save yourself, you need to find your lifeboat... Just let go of Finn and see the person who's right infront of your eyes."

"And who is that? May I ask," Rachel raised an eyebrow at her and gave her an amused look.

"I can't spell everything out, I think you need to work out that one for yourself. See you tomorrow, Rachel," And with that Mercedes pushed past Rachel and carried on down the hall, slamming the door behind her as she left the school.

It was that moment that Puck left the choir room after staying late to help Mr Schue stack a pile of song lyrics. He saw Rachel in the middle of the hall and wondered what she was doing there. She'd left about 10 minutes earlier than him and she could've been home by now. He started to speed up his pace, thinking Santana had made some snide comment or something on the way past and made her upset.

"Rach, are you okay?" He put a hand on her should and she looked at him with confused eyes.

"I'm okay, I'm always okay. I always manage to be fine in the end," That was true. She'd been through alot with her mum and Finn and she'd comeout alright.

"I have no doubt about that, Rach," He smiled at her softly and in that moment she saw something in his eyes, she wasn't quite sure what, but something and the things Mercedes said seemed to make a bit more sense.

"I think I've found my lifeboat," She whispered quietly and Puck frowned at her, having no idea what she meant.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms as he looked at her with a funny expression.

"Nothing... It doesn't matter... Noah," She shifted on the spot, suddenly feeling a little knot in her stomach.

"Okay," He nodded, not feeling the need to say anything else.

"Okay... Noah, I don't love you," She started but before she could continue Puck's mouth had dropped open and he was about to say something about how he 'didn't give a fuck' although he felt slightly queasy, "Let me finish, but I could do, in the future I could love you. That's all that matters."

"That's all that matters," Noah nodded his head in agreement and took her hand in his and they both started to walk down the hallway and out to the cark park. That was the day when Puck felt that he wasn't a Lima loser for once. That's what she did to him, she made him feel like he could do anything and that he was something. If there was even a possiblity that a girl like her could fall in love with him, maybe anything was possible. That was the day when Puck vowed that he'd leave Lima for real and make her proud of him.


End file.
